Category: Capitals

DTC: Caps Win 3 Straight; Wiz win playoff home opener

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https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-yrxt5-8fb68b

The Washington Capitals have now won 3 straight! Starting the series down 0-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets the Caps have flipped the momentum of the series based on a Nicklas Backstrom OT goal. FP, Joe and LP on an emergency Pod to discuss after a game 5 win. Has Coach Trotz played the right cards with in series adjustments? Should Holtby have started game 2? Would have made a difference? The DTC crew discusses in depth. During the second half of the Pod Joe, LP and FP discuss the Wizards game 3 win and what that means for the rest of the series? Whether the series begins to turn or not hinges on a huge game 4 in D.C. #Caps #ALLCAPS #DCFamily

DC Trifecta; Raptors Crush Wizards; Wiz Down 0-2

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https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-u4cph-8f78aa

The Wizards didn’t show up for game two and the fans are feeling the pain throughout DC tonight. The DC Trifecta was in play but with the Wizards losing the triple win was out of the question shortly after 930p. LP, Joe, and Canada discuss the Wiz/Raptors series and break down what went wrong for DC and what went well for Toronto. Can the Wiz get right and force the series beyond four games? … maybe, but highly unlikely given their game two performance! Plus, what surprised you more… Pacers beating Cavs or D.Wade pretending that age is just a number? The NBA Playoffs are awesome, join the boys and discuss! (Photo Credit: WaPo)

Damn it Caps…A game 1 recap.

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Here we go…The recap to game 1 of the NHL playoffs between the Washington Capitals and the Columbus Blue Jackets. A game that should have been a 4-1 victory for DC turned into an oh-so familiar sloppy 4-3 OT loss. Blown leads, sloppy on the PK and questions at goal keeper.

Washington Capitals goalie Philipp Grubauer
Photo Credit: NBC Sports Washington

Blown Leads: First and foremost we must all thank the heavens we have Kuzy. Two goals in 30 seconds is no easy task. For anyone. Sadly his heroics couldn’t help the Caps as they went from up 2-0 to losing 4-3. The Caps who constantly found themselves losing face-offs, sloppy on PKs and horrific net-front managed to keep their lead for a while…they even extended it 3-2 thanks to DSP who badly needed to score a goal. Then the mistakes happened…

Sloppy Penalty Kills: Burakovsky got called for a pointless tripping in the offensive zone. Power Play Blue jackets. The Caps who aren’t the best this year at PKs (15th) had plenty of chances, 3 to be exact, to kill the PP. The Blue Jackets, who quite frankly suck at power plays (25th) found a way to keep the puck in play, stay in the offensive zone and charge ahead for the tying goal. This was hands down the reason the Caps lost game 1. However that won’t be the discussion…

Goalie Questions: Gruby got the start because he earned it. Holtby down the stretch was struggling. Coach Trotz did what many figured he would do and play the hot hand. Gruby didn’t lose this game. We just covered how struggles at the PK cost us the game, how the defense net- front was non existent. However Gruby is not proven in the Playoffs. He did play sloppy, giving up four goals on 27 shots. He played glove down over his pads when he’d set up for a shot. Maybe it was nerves, but he did not play well. Enter Braden Holtby. The same Holtby who IS proven in the playoffs. When you have a goalie who currently boasts the second-best playoff save percentage (.931) in NHL history, and started in all but one of the Caps playoff games since 2012, you question immediately if he should get the start before Sunday’s game 2.

Final Thoughts: 

1) Coach Trotz’s record in the post season is now 19-31. Much worse than Boudreau at 24-19. During the regular season Trotz is calm, cool and collected. During the post season he looks clueless.

2) Jay Beagle is Missed. Columbus won 33 faceoffs to the Caps 27. Even at 80% the Caps need him back or this series will be lost.

3) Defense as a whole is struggling. They loose battles, make terrible cross ice passes to the other team, and are soft in their own zone. Kempny going out changed the game. Having only 3 top 4 defensemen and playing Orpik and Jerabek more hurt the Caps and allowed the Jackets to come back.

 

 

DC Playoffs – A tale of two teams.

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As the playoffs quickly approach in the nation’s capital, the two teams gearing up for them are on completely different trajectories. The Capitals and Wizards yet again find themselves in the playoffs (woohoo!). This year however, things seem….different.

OviWall(Screenshot/Monumental Network)

Last fall fans all around the DC area had two questions on their mind: “Do you think the Caps will be the dominant force they once were?” AND  “Do you think this will be the Wizards year?” The questions were justified. The Capitals lost key players in FA, had gaping holes on defense and everyone just kinda assumed Ovi was old and past his prime. Then there were the wizards, max contracts all around, the message of consistency was being preached, our core group was kept together and everyone was healthy….

My how things change. Fast forward all of the seasons headlines and you come to where we are now. The Caps are 3rd in the East, winning their division on Sunday against one of their biggest rivals and on an impressive 11 game winning streak. Ovi has played in his 1000th game as a Captial, the same season he made goal number 600. The rookies have stepped up, and the questions on defense….well they shifted from the ones asked in fall.

On the other hand you have the Washington Wizards. John Wall, Bradley Beal, Otto Porter. The core of the Wizards. The ones who were to carry us to 50 wins, put us in great position for the playoffs and hopefully, at LEAST the conference championship. Again…how things change. Wall gets hurt. Porter gets banged up, but Beal…steps up. All-star season. The bench gets their act together and they make having an injured Wall seem not that big of a deal….for a while. The Wizards now are the 7th seed in the all of a sudden competitive East. 11 losses in the last 17 games is not how you want to enter the playoffs.

So where are we now? The Caps are set to face the first wild card seed, most likely the Philadelphia Flyers. If they can get into the 2nd round…the chances they meet the Penguins are very high…We’ve been there before. Lets cross that bridge if/when it happens. Everyone pray. The Wizards however are poised to meet the Kyrie Irving-less Celtics. As we’re getting healthy and finding our rhythm again, the Celtics are figuring out who to play and what match ups to chase without Irving or Marcus Smart. The thought now is…can the lower seeded Wizards, gain traction at the exact right time, be a dark horse and surprise all the teams they face in the playoffs? I say yes.

April is the best month of sports. NHL and NBA playoffs start, the same time the MLB and our Nationals begin their season. This year seems different though. The playoffs have come into DC as awkwardly and surprisingly as the forecast for snow this weekend. Everyone get ready…its going to be an interesting few weeks.

 

 

Can Caps Uncork A Run In NHL Playoffs?

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It’s hard to be a Capitals fan.

To love Washington’s entry in the National Hockey League is to love a team of immense gifts — Alex Ovechkin is perhaps the greatest scorer in NHL history — and immense heartbreak.

Since Ovechkin was the NHL’s Rookie of the Year in 2005-06, the Capitals have won their division seven times and have been to the playoffs nine times. In that span they’ve never so much as reached a conference final. Three of those times, they’ve led the league in points and lost a Game 7 in the first or second round of the playoffs.

Moreover, after first making the playoffs in 1983, the Caps have missed the playoffs only seven times. In 27 postseason tournaments, Washington has reached exactly one Stanley Cup Final — getting swept by Detroit in 1998.

So, here they are again, in first place entering March. What reasons are there to think the Capitals will avoid a fourth straight second-round ouster?

Not many, it appears.

Deadline Doldrums

The Caps more or less stood pat at the trade deadline, giving up third- and fifth-round draft picks for a couple of players best described as “defensive depth.”

The moves were underwhelming, considering Washington’s woes on the back end this season. Among the eight teams who would be in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket as of March 1, the Caps’ save percentage of .908 ranked sixth, their goal differential average of .08 ranked seventh, and their shot differential average of -3.8 was dead last.

It hasn’t helped that first-string goalie Braden Holtby is trending in the wrong direction. He’s carrying a save percentage of .908 — well off his career mark of .920 — and he’s even dipped since the halfway point of the season, when he was at .917.

At least his backup, Philipp Grubauer, has been on a hot streak of late. After posting a first-half save percentage of .909, he’s up to .922 (better than his career number) and won his last four February starts while allowing one goal against 29 shots in two relief appearances for Holtby.

Ovechkin and the Offense

True, at age 32, Ovechkin is showing no signs of slowing down. He’s leading the league in goals — if he finishes the season in that spot, he’ll tie Bobby Hull’s record of topping the league in that category seven times.

25-year-old center Evgeny Kuznetsov has blossomed after starting the season playing beside Ovechkin on the top line.

T.J. Oshie, after scoring 33 goals in a contract year last season, had just 12 entering March. And Nicklas Backstrom, feeding Ovechkin since 2007, has seen his assists dip as his ice time with the Russian superstar has become less consistent.

Now What?

February was a strange month. First place in the Metropolitan Division was briefly ceded to Pittsburgh as the Penguins won six straight. But Pittsburgh lost its last two of the month and the Caps won two of their last three to enter March atop the heap, with Philadelphia sneaking ahead of the Penguins.

Despite their spot in the standings, expectations for the Capitals are low. A TSN midseason poll — which last year had 15 coaches picking them to reach the Finals — saw the Caps earn not so much as a single mention.

Maybe sneaking up on the competition is their best bet.

Author bio: AJ Lee is Marketing Coordinator for Pro Stock Hockey (prostockhockey.com), an online hockey shop offering authentic pro stock hockey equipment. He was born and raised in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, and has been a huge Blackhawks fan his entire life. AJ picked up his first hockey stick at age 3, and hasn’t put it down yet.

Photo Credit: sportsgrinder.com